"Killer whales"

To the folks who freak out every time there's a report of an orca exhibiting "dangerous behavior" in captivity:

What did you expect?

Man has taken a wild animal, an apex predator no less--and one which has been documented attacking gray whales and even blue whales--and forced it to perform tricks in direct contact with humans, coincidentally the same size as some of its more common prey items (eg. seals). He has taken an animal that spends all of its life in the company of its own family group, and placed it with a few other animals it does not know and cannot properly interact with--or worse, forced it to spend days or more in total isolation, except when humans decide they want to interact with it.

A lot of people seem to expect that if an animal is "tame" it will act more or less like a dog, despite how different it may be physically or how different its behavior in the wild might be from a dog's, or whether it is even domesticated. Dogs have been domesticated for thousands of years, and even a dog may still bite--especially if it is mistreated, if its needs are not met, or if it is placed in an environment that stresses it.

Orcas are smart animals, there's no question about that. But Orcas are emotionally complex, and undeniably, wild animals. Failing to observe these facts and act appropriately can only lead to problems.